Prestongrange Museum

The colliery winding gear

The Prestongrange Industrial Heritage Museum is an industrial heritage museum between Musselburgh and Prestonpans on the B1348 on the East Lothian coast, Scotland UK. Founded as the original site of the Scottish Mining Museum its operation reverted to East Lothian Council Museum Service (the current operators) in 1992. Prestongrange Colliery had closed in 1962 and the site began to be cleared. However, work stopped when a new plan was adopted. The Museum was the idea of David Spence, a retired mining engineer. A steering committee was formed in 1968, volunteers worked to clear the site and assemble exhibits, and the Scottish Mining Museum was formally launched at Prestongrange on 28 September 1984.

Main features

• the Hoffmann Kiln (or, more precisely, the Hoffmann Continuous Kiln)
• the Cornish engine (a type of beam engine)
• the winding engine
• the Power House
• the 17th century glass works
• the 18th century pottery site
• the 19th century coal mine and brick works
• Morrison's Haven, the 16th century harbour
• the Visitor Centre with its exhibition

Facilities

The Museum site is open all day every day. The Museum buildings are open between April and October, 11am to 4pm. A self-guided tour by mobile phone is available, and it is narrated by the painter John Bellany who was born in Port Seton.

Photo gallery

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See also

• Manual labour
• Wage labour
• Industrial archaeology
• List of industrial archaeology topics
• European Route of Industrial Heritage (ERIH)
• List of places in East Lothian

External links

• The Museum's website
• Prestongrange Community Archaeological Project
• Self-guided tour leaflet
• BBC page on beam engines, including an animation
• National Trust website on Levant Beam Engine